JF-2020/I complete!

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JF-2020/I complete!

Dear Friends,

So time goes fast and one more informal tournament on JF is over. And as any finished project it brings some thoughts and some emotions too… Half of this period was hard for all of us, but the summer coming with its light, and warmth and hopes for the best!

There’re general things we can think about and there’re also relatively little things, but those which can make our days. So, before thanking all of you who participated in JF-2020/I, who were patient and supportive, who were writing nice and instructive comments… I’d like to say a special THANKS to Shankar Ram! And not only for one more index page of the tournament, or for his statistics you can see on the top, but for bringing me smile every time when I read his mails! 

Dear Eric, now the competition is in your hands! I hope you’ll enjoy the work! 
Dear composers, please check one more time if your problems are included in the list of Fairy problems  JF-2020/I.

What to say more? Talking about the rational things, I have to mention that I still don’t have a judge for the next fairy competition, and that I still need to make some technical work for JF to keep it working in the future… so, I’d like to ask you to be patient and wait for me for several weeks. And if about irrational things.. I have to say at this period of isolation, of some unclearness in the air, I’m also moody, maybe more emotional about the both, positive and negative things, maybe less creative, but the same time more hardworking… Wishing to all of us to survive this emotional pressure and to support each other with our smiles! – Julia, your editor

DANKA PETKOVA – 100 MT 2020 (C15.11.2020)

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DANKA PETKOVA – 100 MT 2020

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Danka Petkova (1920-1993), mother and first chess teacher of the Bulgarian composer Petko Petkov, the grandmaster organises an International thematic tournament “Danka Petkova 100 M.T. 2020”.

The tournament will be held in three sections:

a) Direct mates in 2-4 moves.
b) Helpmates (stalemates, double ==) in 2-4 moves with at least two phases
(2 or more solutions, set play and solution, twins but no zeropositions.).
c) HS# (=, ==) in 2-4 moves with at least two phases.

The theme in each section is free , but with the obligatory use of at least one of the new Bul (Bulgarian) fairy pieces invented by Petko Petkov: Bul Grasshopper, Bul Lion, Bul PAO, Bul VAO. The colour of these 4 pieces can be white, black, neutral or semi-neutral. Also allowed are Royal pieces of Bul type. The usual kinds of G,LI, PAO and VAO are not allowed. No other fairy pieces or fairy conditions are allowed.

Originals must be sent to the organiser GM Petko Petkov: ppetkov2702@gmail.com no later than November 15th, 2020
The results will be published by the end of 2020 | Prizes: books by Petko Petkov | Examples and details  in PDF announcement.

ChessProblems.ca Bulletin – issue 18, June 2020

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Issue 18, June 2020, of the ChessProblems.ca Bulletin is available online at http://Bulletin.ChessProblems.ca. Includes Original problems, ChessProblems.ca TT8 Award, and the Articles: Vaclav Kotesovec: Records in ser-#= PWC problems with one white piece p.876 | Jeff Coakley & Andrey Frolkin: The Continuity of Ambiguity p.885 | Arno Tungler: Series-mover Artists: Michel Caillaud p.894 | Arno Tungler: Record Breakers IX p.897

The bulletin is published by Cornel Pacurar since March 2014 and is mainly dedicated to Fairies, Series-Movers in particular.

Originals June 2020

Julia's Fairies original problems 6 Comments

 

 

 

Original Problems JF-2020/I

 

June, 2020

The judge of JF-2020/I: Eric Huber. 
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2019-2020: Vlaicu Crișan. 

Dear friends, I’m sorry for the unstable work of JF during the last week of June! Some changes from the hoster’s side, moving to the new platform, the same way some work I have to do as part of my code is not compatible with the new requirements.
Now the half-year competition JF-2020/I is over, all awaiting problems published. Please, wait with your next sending until the new tournament will be announced not earlier than in the middle of July! I need some time for technical work to keep JF up and running.
  • (30.06) No.1521 (PG 5.0 ; Transmission menace) Eric Huber (Romania).
  • (30.06) No.1520 (ser-h#25 ; Circe Equipollents) Chris Feather (England).
  • (29.06) No.1518, 1519: Petko Petkov (Bulgaria). No.1518 (h=4 ; Bul Grasshopper) Dedicated to Christian Poisson! No.1519 (h#2 ; Bul VAO, Bul PAO) In Memoriam to my mother Danka Petkova.
  • (29.06) No.1517 (h#2 ; Rook-Lion, Bishop-Lion) Ladislav Salai jr. (Slovakia).
  • (29.06) No.1516 (hs#3.5 ; Circe Power Transfer) Cornel Pacurar & Adrian Storisteanu (Canada).
  • (13.06) No.1289.1 (h#2.5 ; Bishop-Lion, Rook-Hopper) Francesco Simoni (Italy). A version to the problem  No.1289 from the tournament JF-10/2017-3/2018 (the Award from 03.02.2019).
  • (13.06) No.1515 (hs#3.5) Valerio Agostini & Mario Parrinello (Italy).
  • (12.06) No.1514 (h#4 ; Bul Grasshopper) Sébastien Luce (France).
  • (11.06) No.1513 (hs#3 ; Grasshopper ; Make & Take) Stephan Dietrich (Germany).
  • (10.06) No.1496.1 (-14 & #1 Proca ; Anti-Circe) Paul Rãican & Klaus Wenda (Romania/Austria). Improved version after a cook 1.Kc5:Rd5(>Ke1) Rd8-d5+ -2.Pf7:Se8=B(>Bf1) & 1.Kb6# discovered in No.1496.

All previously published problems & informal competitions you can find on the top menu page of Original Problems or its subsections. 

Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson

Jubilee-60 MARIANI-PARRINELLO-SIMONI

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~ ~ ~   60 Jubilees!  ~ ~ ~ 

Francesco SIMONI 60 JUBILEE – THEMATIC TOURNEY
Judge: Francesco Simoni (Italy)		 Mario PARRINELLO 60 JUBILEE – THEMATIC TOURNEY
Judge: Petko A. Petkov (Bulgaria)		 Stefano MARIANI 60 JUBILEE –
FREE THEME TOURNEY
Judge: Paz Einat (Israel)
Helpmates in 3,5 or more moves showing the Perpetuum mobile theme are required. By making the key, a new problem comes out, which is solved by returning the key piece to the starting square. In addition…. -> Are required Helpselfmate (HS≠) in n moves with any kind of cyclic play; all fairy pieces and conditions are allowed. The problems must be cheked (C+) by any known solving program.  Are required ≠2, free theme. Fairy pieces or conditions are not allowed. 

All problems will be submitted to the judge anonymously. Deadline 31/12/2020.
Send originals by e-mail to the tournament director Antonio Garofalo: perseus@bestproblems.it

See examples in the PDF announcement (English and Italian).

229th theme tourney of the Schwalbe

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schwalbe-logo229th theme tourney of the Schwalbe

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Franz Pachl,
the Schwalbe announces a THEME TOURNEY.

Required are helpselfmates in 2-4 moves where the mating move is performed by a neutral piece (not by a semi-neutral one!). Fairy pieces and conditions are allowed. Twins (including zero positions) and multiple solutions are allowed, but all phases must be thematic.
Tourney director: Rainer Kuhn, e-mail: rainer.kuhn@web.de | Judge: Franz Pachl (Ludwigshafen) | Prize money: 200 €
Closing date: July 08, 2020 (postmark or date of email) | The award will be published in the February issue of Die Schwalbe 2021.

Originals May 2020

Julia's Fairies original problems Leave a comment

 

 

 

Original Problems JF-2020/I

 

May, 2020

The judge of JF-2020/I: Eric Huber. 
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2019-2020: Vlaicu Crișan. 

Coming soon: Paul Raican (Romania) & Klaus Wenda (Austria), Stephan Dietrich (Germany), Sébastien Luce (France), Valerio Agostini & Mario Parrinello (Italy), Francesco Simoni (Italy), Adrian Storisteanu (Canada)

  • (29.05) No.1512 (Ser-h#24 ; Neutral pieces ; Alphabetic Chess, Circe, Einstein Chess, Republican Chess, Take&Make Chess) Michael Grushko (Israel).
  • (27.05) No.1511 (h#2 ; LEO, PAO, VAO) Michael McDowell (Great Britain). “I seem to be going through a little burst of fairy composition at the moment!” (Author)
  • (27.05) No.1510 (PG 8.5 ; Alphabetic Chess) Andrew Buchanan (Hong Kong) & Thomas Thannheiser (Germany). “We are currently working together on “Shortest Shorstes Proofgames”. Enclosed our longest problem. We want to summarize the others in an article (coming soon) on the topic.” (Authors).
  • (24.05) No.1509 (PG 9 ; Fuddled Men) Stephen Emmerson (U.K.). Inspired by No.1505 by Bernd Gräfrath.
  • (24.05) No.1508 (h#2 ; Take & Make) Frank Richter & Daniel Papack (Germany). Warm welcome to Frank in Original problems section of JF!
  • (15.05) No.1507 (hs#4 ; Cardinal ; KoeKo) Anatoly Stepochkin (Russia).
  • (14.05) No.1506 (hs#3.5 ; Superguards, Take&Make) Vlaicu Crișan (Romania) & S.K.Balasubramanian (India).
  • (13.05) No.1505 (PG 10.5 ; Fuddled Men) Bernd Gräfrath (Germany). Dedicated to Siegfried Hornecker.
  • (12.05) No.1504 (s#13 ; Spiralspringer) Torsten Linß (Germany).
  • (12.05) No.1503.1-3 by Alexandre Leroux and No.1503.4 by François Labelle (Canada) – original PG problems presented in the article by Alexandre Leroux “Pandemic: a new fairy condition“.  The article is included in the Articles section of JF. But 4 original problems marked 1503.1-4 will participate in the current Retro/PG tournament. My special gratitude to the author for wonderful technical preparation of the article, including html/animation and PDF version!
  • (05.05) No.1502 (PG 9.5 ; Anti-Take&Make) Paul Raican (Romania) & Michel Caillaud (France).
  • (03.05) No.1501 (hs#3 ; Masand) Kenneth Solja (Finland).

All previously published problems & informal competitions you can find on the top menu page of Original Problems or its subsections. 

Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson
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cancelled/postponed

Due to the Corona pandemic, the Andernach 2020 meeting has to be cancelled, or better: postponed;
new date is planned for Friday, August 21 to Sunday August 23 of course in Andernach, of course in Hotel Stammbaum.

ANATOLE F. IANOVCIC MT

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ANATOLE F. IANOVCIC MT

The Romanian magazine Componist-Buletin Problemistic is announcing the Memorial Tournament dedicated to Anatole F. Ianovcic, in order to commemorate 35 years from his passing away.

The tourney is for direct problems with mate in 2 moves, containing at least one grasshopper and/or at least one nightrider (other fairy pieces/conditions are not allowed), showing the Ianovcic theme: in the initial position, two black pieces A and B are half-pinned; after the key, a white line-piece C (= Q, R, B, G, N) is pinned by B (it could be already pinned); in the thematic variation, A plays, self-pinning B and, due to a black interference, allows C to give mate with a Pelle move (a move on the pin-line).

Entries should be sent until November 1st 2020, at the tournament director Dinu-Ioan Nicula, e-mail: nicudin004@yahoo.com
Announcement with examples in PDF | Prizes in chess literature.

Originals April 2020

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Original Problems JF-2020/I

 

April, 2020

The judge of JF-2020/I: Eric Huber. 
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2019-2020: Vlaicu Crișan. 

Coming soon: Kenneth Solja (Finland), Paul Raican (Romania) & Michel Caillaud (France), Bernd Gräfrath (Germany)

  • (24.04) No.1500 (hs#3.5 ; Lion, Grasshopper ; Take & Make) Borislav Gadjanski (Serbia). What to say here? I believe, it’s a problem for no.1500! 
  • (23.04) No.1499 (Ser-h#19 ; neutral Lion, Grasshopper ; Alphabetic Chess, Couscous Circe, Take & Make) Michael Grushko (Israel).
  • (19.04) No.1498 A & B (h=4.5 / h=3 ; Masand / Masand Generalised) Sébastien Luce (France). Dedicated to Themis Argirakopoulos.
  • (13.04) No.1497 (ser-h=24) Ľuboš Kekely (Slovakia) with a long walk of the black King.
  • (13.04) No.1496 (-14 & #1 Proca ; Anti-Circe) Paul Rãican & Klaus Wenda (Romania/Austria).
  • (13.04) No.1495 (h#2 ; Neutral pieces, Camel, Zebra ; Annan Chess) Franz Pachl, Michael Barth & Sven Trommler (Germany).

(12.04) Happy Easter 2020! 

  • (12.04) No.1494 (–1b & h#1 ; Supercirce)  Manfred Rittirsch (Germany). Manfred’s first original for JF retro section! Welcome!
  • (12.04) No.1493 (h#2.5 ; Mantis)  Claude Beaubestre (France). Mantis = S + Locust, implemented in WinChloe.

All previously published problems & informal competitions you can find on the top menu page of Original Problems or its subsections. 

Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson